Why You Don’t Want to Go Viral

It’s an adrenaline rush. The feeling that you’ve made something that connects with millions of people – there’s nothing like it. In 48 hrs and 1 million eyeballs, I’m a hero.

My audience finds my content relatable. I get fan mail, love in the comments, and amazing words of encouragement.

But on day 3, we see an uptick and it reaches a new degree of super viral. 2 million views.

Here is when the trolls come out to play.

Any e-mail, FB post, or anything else I put into the digital universe will be analyzed by frat boy bankers and wannabes in their mom’s basement trying to knock me. For what? Likes, of course…

At first, it bugged me. But now, dealing with trolls is my badge of honor.

And I’ve learned how to handle it. One thing I don’t do: delete comments.

The one thing that will enrage trolls and doxers beyond belief is deleting.

These are guys who will inspect your 5th-grade yearbook just to internet shame you for detention.

A cubicle employee who drinks way too much coffee, has way too much college debt, and has a #TBT from his Psi U pledge days of him feeding his cat beer as his last Instagram photo. *SMH*

I’ve learned to become much more stoic to the exposure. I don’t check LinkedIn before I go to bed. I don’t check LinkedIn on my phone.

Rather than stress myself out over every post and its comments, I analyze the data.

Sometimes you can’t. Sometimes it’s just a combination of hate from trolls who don’t understand why I write like this.

And why I’m such a loser who doesn’t know how to use paragraph structure.

Other times I’m just a narcissistic poser who is so ego-driven that it’s unfathomable to the frat boys.

But with that said, there are some interesting data points I’ve picked up from watching the trolls.

1. I get a lot of hate from the UK.

I’m currently in Uruguay where it’s 29 C / 84 F as summer is officially kicking in before Christmas.

London town? 3 C and 37 F with heavy rain and gloomy conditions for the next week.

That’s interesting.

Next?

2. Job security.

Some trolls work at companies like Equifax or data centers in Ireland.

Suffice it to say it cannot be fun working as a software developer right now in Equifax.

The point is, you can’t let these haters get you down.

I reached over 50 million eyeballs in the past 90 days.

I’ve been accused of writing “Broetry” by DailyBeast and BuzzFeed, two publications that both could benefit immensely from the traffic I generate. At the end of the day, it’s the same thing as the trolls.

You do you.

I do me.

I’m riding a thick barrel ride that I’m well prepared for. And I’m going to ride it out ’til the end.

The question is: will you be prepared for the wave when you’re about to catch it?

CEO and Co-founder of Neon Roots
Ben Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Neon Roots, a digital development agency with a mission to destroy the development model and rebuild it from the ground up. After a brief correspondence with Fidel Castro at age nine, Ben decided to start doing things his own way, going from busboy to club manager at a world-class nightclub before he turned 18. Since then, Ben has founded or taken a leading role in 5 businesses in everything from software development to food and entertainment.